In an Aug. 29 letter, ACLU New Jersey legal director Edward Barocas said Pat
Petaccia should have been allowed to question Mayor James Barberio regarding
Dr. Louis Valori's allegation that Barberio offered to create and give him a
$50,000-a-year township job if he wouldn't run for office.

Valori had run for a council seat in the Republican primary on a ticket that challenged Barberio and his running maters. Barberio vigorously denied Valori's accusation
at the time and the Somerset County Prosecutors Office eventually said it
wouldn't file criminal charges against the mayor after it investigated the
matter.

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In the letter, Barocas also asked that the
township council not cut off members of the public "regardless of whether
the council agrees with the content of a particular comment."

In addition,
he asked the council to confirm that Petaccia should have been allowed to speak
about the topic at the meeting and she not be cut off again at future meetings.

However, when asked about the letter Monday, Inglesino
told NJ.com that he had been in contact with Barocas and that Barocas advised
him the ACLU wouldn't pursue the matter further. He also said he wouldn't
comment further on Barocas' letter.

At May council meeting, though, Inglesino said he felt he had to cut Petaccia short because the township had been subpoenaed by the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office regarding Valori's allegations and he was worried council members might speak about the situation, and potentially interfere with a criminal investigation. He also said he "felt terrible" that he had to interrupt Petaccia.

"My purpose was to ensure compliance with the subpoena and to protect every member (on the council) from the charge that they somehow interfered with a criminal investigation," Inglesino said in May. "I know that (Petaccia) didn't know that at the time. Indeed, I wasn't at liberty to tell her then what I just shared with you all now."

Katie Wang, the ACLU-NJ's communications
director, told NJ.com the organization declined to comment on the situation.

Petaccia said she hasn't decided whether she'll
pursue legal action and that all she really wanted from Inglesino was an
apology.

"I don't trust this man anymore,"
Petaccia said.

Frustrated by Inglesino's repeated attempts to
stop her line of questioning, Petaccia eventually ended her own public comment
session that night.

But before she sat down, Petaccia engaged in a
heated back and forth.

At one point, Inglesino told Petaccia that "the purpose here is to
ask questions. The purpose of this segment is not to harass or just take
continuous gratuitous shots at the integrity of" officials.

After
Petaccia told him she was exercising her freedom of speech, Inglesino said:
"Ms. Petaccia, you can exercise that speech, but not at this
meeting."